Barefoot Cowgirl: The Cycle of Death and Rebirth
by drealyn22
Summary: Post-series. When Spike doesn't return, Faye goes her own way, leaving Jet alone on the Bebop. Four years later, Edward is tasked with bringing them back together to track Spike down. How will she convince two of the most stubborn people alive to cooperate with one another?
1. Session 1: Mood Indigo

**Barefoot Cowgirl: The Cycle of Death and Rebirth**

 **Session 1: Mood Indigo**

 _Disclaimer: This is work of fan fiction, not for profit, and not intended to infringe upon the owner's copyright. Cowboy Bebop © 1998 Sunrise, Inc._

* * *

...

"You're leaving."

Jet leaned against the steel door frame at the rear of the hangar and watched Faye load the last of her belongings into her zipcraft.

"Just like that," he said matter-of-factly. "No heads up, and no goodbye." He folded his arms over his chest and tried to mask his hurt with sarcasm. "It figures. 'Faye's _famous_ disappearing act.' You women are all the same. At least Edward had the decency to leave a note."

Faye's back stiffened and her head dipped slightly, but she continued her task without acknowledging Jet.

"Well, it's about time! You overstayed your welcome a long time ago!"

"I know," she uttered softly, her voice almost too weak and distant to be heard. "I was better off as a solo act, anyway. It's best for everyone if I leave."

"Who's _everyone_?" He pushed away from the door frame and his body went rigid. "In case you haven't noticed, Ed and Ein are gone, and Spike is out doing whatever it is he─"

"Spike is dead."

His chest deflated as if the wind had been knocked out of him. "...Y-You don't know that."

Faye spun around and her voice took on a biting edge as her green eyes connected with Jet's icy gaze for the first time. "Oh yeah? Then where is he, Jet? Tell me! You can't, can you?"

He only stared back, at a loss for words. It was a question he had asked himself many times.

In the three weeks since Spike's disappearance, Jet had constantly monitored the radio spectrum and tapped every last one of his contacts, but there wasn't a single shred of information to be had regarding his partner's whereabouts. Even so, he found it difficult to let go of the idea that Spike might be out there somewhere.

"Oh, I get it," Faye cooed. "You still think he's coming back, don't you? Any day now, he'll call in, alive and well. You'll open the hangar for the Swordfish, Spike will make some snide remark while he lights up a cigarette, and we'll all celebrate with a big meal of bell peppers and beef! Is that it?" She scowled angrily before climbing into the single-person cockpit of the Red Tail. She stretched a pair of leather gloves over her hands and inserted the key into the ignition. "You're living in the past, old man. Not me! I'm moving on to bigger and better things. I suggest you do the same."

She yanked the cockpit door shut and the glass darkened, concealing her within. When the engines came roaring to life, Jet stepped back and allowed the heavy steel door to slide shut in front of him before the bay was opened to the vacuum of space. He watched through a tiny porthole window as Faye piloted the Red Tail onto the flight deck and launched away from the Bebop, until she was nothing more than a speck of light fading into a sea of glimmering stars against the backdrop of an endless black void.

With a vacant expression and a heavy heart, Jet lumbered through the corridors until he reached the living area. Unsure of what to do next, he simply stood there and surveyed the room. Nothing had changed, yet it was all different somehow... colder, and very still.

Ein's dog food dish sat abandoned in the corner, Faye's forgotten nail file lay on the yellow chair seat, and Spike's book was still open, pages face down on the table. Nothing remained of Edward's except the echo of her childish voice in Jet's mind, which only seemed to amplify the silence around him.

Suddenly eager to drown it all out, he reached for the whisky bottle that Spike kept hidden behind the refrigerator. He started to twist off the cap, but then he stopped and held his hand in place, as if contemplating a chess move that once made could never be taken back. He stared through the half-empty bottle for a long time before he finally set it down without taking a drink.

"Maybe she's right... maybe I am living in the past." He slumped onto the couch and stared down at the stark metal floor between his feet. " _Bah._ What am I saying? It's not like we had any real camaraderie anyway. They all just come and go as they please. Eat up all the food, use up all the fuel, and expect _me_ to repair their rusty starships after every scuffle. No regard for anyone but themselves!"

He reclined into the yellow cushions, lit a cigarette and took a long drag, releasing the vapors through a forced sigh.

"Nothing but trouble. Good riddance to the whole lot of them."

Before the words even left his mouth, he knew he was lying to himself, and that made the sharp sting of loneliness all the more painful.

...

 _To be continued..._

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 **Thank you for reading. Reviews appreciated but never expected.**

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A/N: Welcome to my first Cowboy Bebop fanfic! This will be a multi-chapter story, and each chapter, or session, will be titled after a song. I'll include song info here in my author's notes, and you can listen to the song on my Tumblr (assuming all of my song choices exist on YouTube).

I'm tagging all of my Tumblr posts related to this story with #BarefootCowgirl so they'll be easier to find. When you get to my page, just enter that tag in the search field.

My hope is that this will be the first in a series of stories with Edward as the main character. We'll see if I have enough patience to stick with it after this one is complete.

Session 1 Title Song

 _Mood Indigo_ is a jazz standard. It was originally recorded in 1930 as an instrumental song called _Dreamy Blues_ , performed by Duke Ellington and His Orchestra. After it became popular, lyrics were added and the song was renamed _Mood Indigo_. It's been covered by a number of jazz artists over the decades.

This song is dedicated to Jet, after Faye has departed from the Bebop and he's left to sit and ponder his loneliness.

Partial lyrics:

 _I always get that mood indigo,_  
 _Since my baby said goodbye._  
 _And in the evenin' when the lights are low,_  
 _I'm so lonely I could cry._  
 _'Cause there's nobody who cares about me,_  
 _I'm just a poor fool that's bluer than blue can be._

Listen to the song and view the full lyrics on my Tumblr (username Drealyn22, #BarefootCowgirl), or find the song on YouTube.

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Thanks again for reading!


	2. Session 2: Mr Blue Sky

**Barefoot Cowgirl: The Cycle of Death and Rebirth**

 **Session 2: Mr. Blue Sky**

 _Disclaimer: This is work of fan fiction, not for profit, and not intended to infringe upon the owner's copyright. Cowboy Bebop © 1998 Sunrise, Inc._

* * *

...

"Are you sure you wanna go digging in the dirt, kid? You might find more than you bargained for. Might not be the only one looking, either."

"Oh yes! This is definitely the clue Ed's been searching for."

The man on the screen shook his scruffy salt-and-peppered hair. "If you say so." He coughed and rubbed his nose with the back of his hand. "You got my money?"

"Yessss… Five-thousand woolongs, transferred over a secure channel. Untraceable."

He checked his screen to verify the transaction. "Okay, I'm sending you the coordinates now. But if anybody asks, you didn't get 'em from me, you understand? I mean it, kid! I don't need a bunch of cops and bounty hunters sniffing around here."

"Secret! Ed understands."

"Alright then. The current owner is getting ready to scrap it for parts, so you'd better hurry. That's all l can tell you." The man paused before terminating the communication. "Good luck, kiddo. Watch your back."

Edward's golden eyes sparkled with excitement. "We found it, Ein!" She picked up the tan Welsh corgi with both hands and bobbed him up and down to the melody of her singsong rhyme. "Lost and found and lying around; in scraps and hunks, and heaps of junk!" Then she set him down and lifted a finger to tap her cheek. "Now, how are we going to get there?"

Ein barked and pointed his nose at a blinking symbol on the monitor.

"Oh là là, a ship going to Europa! That'll get us close enough. We can hitch a ride from there." Her fingers blurred over the keyboard while she accessed the vessel's flight schedule. "Uh-oh. It's leaving Earth too soon. _Unless_ they have a little computer trouble." She grinned maniacally as she pounded away at the keys. "That should do it. Come on, Ein, we have to run!"

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...

"Why in the eight great hells would you want this ancient piece of crap? Thing's gotta be twenty years old! It's fallin' apart at the seams!" The pudgy old man kicked one of the starship's red steel plates. Its rusted hinges squealed in protest before it self-destructed into the garbage pile below. "Literally!"

A toothy smile spread across Edward's face. "Ed wants it!"

"Huh? Who the hell is Ed?"

"Ed is Ed."

He narrowed his eyes at the lanky red-headed teenager. She had rosy cheeks and a mop of messy chin-length hair, but with a body that was only just beginning to show a few curves, she could easily pass for a boy or an under-developed girl. "So you're a...? Or...?" He examined her for a few seconds longer before giving up and shaking his head. "Eh, what do I care? Just pick out the parts you need and scram outta here."

"Ed wants it all. How much?"

"For the whole thing? Hmm, let's see... I'll give it to you for..." He rubbed his chin and squinted at the aging mono racer in a long moment of appraisal, then he waved his hand dismissively. "Aw, just take it. I was gonna scrap it anyway. Gotta make room for more valuable inventory, you know. Besides, I'm tired of gettin' interrogated by every crooked cop and nosy syndicate mook in the solar system."

She tilted her head to one side and played ignorant. "What do you mean?"

"You don't know? I figured since you came all the way to Io lookin' for it, that... well... seems this thing's got a history. Even got a name! They call it 'Swordfish.' A few years ago, a group of thugs came here lookin' for the previous owner. One of them worked me over real good, the dirty bastard. About six months later, a bounty hunter held me at gunpoint! Can you believe that? They keep comin' back around, tryin' to find this guy. Evidently he pissed off a lot of people and then disappeared. Say, you don't know him, do you? Guy with bushy hair? Eyes two different colors? At least, that's what they tell me. Name's uh... oh, what was it? Skip? No... Steve? Nah, that's not it either. Oh! Spike! Yeah, that's it. Spike. You know him?"

"Nope!" She answered a little too quickly. "Never heard of him."

"Huh." The man eyed her with suspicion for a moment, then he shrugged. "Well anyway, I'll be glad to get rid of this old hunk of trash. But _you're_ responsible for movin' it outta here. I'm not a charity _and_ a delivery service!"

"Um..." Edward sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck. "Will you call a tow truck for Ed?"

The man's round belly shook with laughter beneath his oil-stained overalls. "A tow truck? You've gotta be kiddin' me!"

Edward's lower lip jutted out and her eyebrows peaked in the middle. Next to her, Ein's lowered his nose with a whimper.

"Oh, brother! Fine. I'll get a cargo transport to pick it up, but you're payin' for it! And you're gonna promise me, once this thing is in your possession, neither it nor you are ever comin' back here! I never wanna see this piece of garbage again!"

"Ed promises."

The junkyard keeper hobbled down a small mountain of parts and scrap metal and made his way to the makeshift shack he called an office. Meanwhile, Edward climbed up onto the red wing of the ship and peered through the broken cockpit glass.

"What's this?" She reached for a crumpled piece of paper discreetly wedged behind the controls. On first glance, it appeared to be an old receipt from a trip through the Martian hyperspace gate, dated more than four years earlier. On the back side were a few lines of scribbled writing. "Hmm... it could be a message, but it's all jumbled up. Gibberish, hogwash, balderdash." She gracefully backflipped off the ship with two aerial somersaults and landed on her bare feet. "Wanna smell, Ein?"

She bent down to hold the paper in front of the dog's nose, and he sniffed at it eagerly. His ears perked up and his stubby tail waggled back and forth.

"Is it from Spike?"

" _Aarf!_ "

She craned her neck to read the paper sideways. "What does it say?" She turned it upside down, over and back, and right side up again. "It _is_ a message! It's a code! Let's see..." She cocked an eyebrow and pursed her lips while she worked through the puzzle. "Got it!"

 _._

 _Edward:_ _If you're reading this, it means you found the Swordfish. Nice work, kid. I knew you could do it._ _Now I need you to find Jet and Faye, and bring them to me. I don't know where I'll be by the time you read this, so you'll have to figure it out on your own._ _I'm counting on you. Just be careful._ _Spike._

.

Edward grinned and lifted her index finger in the air. "Challenge accepted!"

* * *

...

"Yeah, that's right. She got here about 40 minutes ago. Says she doesn't know the guy."

At the sound of the old man's voice, Edward slowed her approach and tip-toed towards the shack.

"Nah, she's just a kid. Can't be more than seventeen. You want me to let her go? Alright, whatever, but after this, I'm free and clear, right? Yeah. I got it. I said I got it!"

The girl poked her head through the slanted doorway. "Mister Junkyard Person?"

He jumped with a start and swiveled around on his heel to face her. "You scared me, kid! Shouldn't go sneakin' up on an old geezer like that." He quickly cut the power to the monitor on the desk next to him. "I, uh... got a cargo transport on the way. Be here tomorrow. You'll have to come back then."

She nodded in silence and lingered uncomfortably.

"Go on now, get outta here! I've got other business to take care of." He averted his eyes and stared, unfocused, at the floor.

Without a word, she turned and walked away.

As she ambled between the mounds of garbage that lined the pathway leaving the dump, she glanced down at her canine friend and frowned. "Aye yai yai. I think Junkyard Man sold us out." She thought for a moment, then smiled. "But that's okay, right Ein? It wouldn't be fun if it wasn't dangerous, huh?" She began skipping to her own rhythm and swinging her long arms back and forth. "Once we fix the ship, it'll be easy to find Jet and Faye. Then I guess we'll start at the astral gate." Her mouth grew wide and she danced on her toes while Ein trotted along next to her. She sang out with gleeful exuberance, "Woo-hoooo! Ed's a cowgirl!"

...

 _To be continued..._

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 **Thank you for reading. Reviews appreciated but never expected.**

* * *

A/N: When the junkyard keeper is trying to remember Spike's name, the first names he comes up with are Skip and Steve. Skip Stellrecht and Steve Blum are the voice actors who played Vicious and Spike in the English dub.

Session 2 Title Song

 _Mr. Blue Sky_ is a song by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), featured on the 1977 album _Out of the Blue_ , and released as a single in 1978. Jeff Lynne re-recorded the song in 2012.

For those of you who know and love the Saturday Night Live sketch, _Mr. Blue Sky_ features prominent use of the cowbell. (I gotta have more cowbell baby!)

I dedicate this song to Edward for her cheerful personality as she embarks on her new mission. I imagine her skipping to the beat of this song, and maybe even singing it while she leaves the junkyard.

Partial lyrics:

 _Sun is shinin' in the sky_  
 _There ain't a cloud in sight_  
 _It's stopped rainin' everybody's in a play_  
 _And don't you know_  
 _It's a beautiful new day, hey hey_

Listen to the song and view the full lyrics on my Tumblr (username Drealyn22, #BarefootCowgirl), or find the song on YouTube.

* * *

Thanks again for reading!


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